Let it Be
by mmmburger
Summary: Why won't Remus talk to anyone? Why is he always in his brother's company? And how come he's always covered in bruises? Sirius Black is determined to find out...
1. Curiosity

This fic is veeery loosely based on a scene from 'Chocolat'. It just popped into my head while watching the film, and demanded to be written. This chapter is rather short, intended as a kind of introduction. I'm not sure how long this story is going to be when it's finished, but there are definitely some more chapters to come. Enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned these guys, then this story wouldn't be on a –fanfiction- site...  
  
Chpt. 1.  
  
Sirius Black leaned back in his chair to get a better view of another student sitting across the room from him. The dying embers of the fire gave off just enough light for him to see the figure of one Remus J. Lupin (as his trunk said), who was sitting next to a table by the stairs, shoulders hunched, pouring over a piece of parchment. The boy was a total mystery to him. They'd been in the same form – hell, they'd even shared the same dorm room – for over a year, yet Lupin had never spoken a word to him... or to any of the other students, as far as Sirius could tell. The only time the boy ever seemed to speak was when answering a teacher's question. He'd tried to talk to the smaller boy in the common room once, but even before he'd got as far as 'Hi, my name's Sirius' a fifth year had appeared out of nowhere and told him to bugger off. He didn't know the fifth year's name, but it seemed he was Lupin's brother; he looked quite like him anyway. Except that his face was harder, and it held none of the sadness that seemed to radiate from Remus'. Sirius had tried to talk to Remus again that night in the dorm, but the boy just shook his head and pulled the curtains closed around his four- poster.  
  
Since then Sirius hadn't attempted conversation again, but watched his classmate with great interest. That fifth year seemed to follow Remus everywhere, leaving his side only for classes. They seldom talked, and when they did it usually seemed as though the larger boy was berating his younger brother. He sat there as Remus did his homework, pointing out mistakes as the tousle-haired figure wrote. Sirius wondered how he ever got all the work done for his own classes, especially if he was taking  
  
OWLs... Why would anyone want to keep his brother in check like that? Thinking about Regulus, Sirius grimaced. He'd only been too glad to leave the little monster behind and come to Hogwarts. Remus seemed to be a very accident-prone person, that was another thing Sirius noticed. He always seemed to be sporting bruises on his face and his arms. 'Not that that's anything unusual...' The dark-haired boy touched a finger to his own forehead. Quidditch practise took its toll on Sirius. It was as though bludgers were attracted to him or something. Though his dear old mother had given him her fair share of the marks that littered his shoulders when she was particularly annoyed.  
  
The coals in the fireplace shifted and let off a loud crack, knocking Sirius out of his thoughts and making him jump. He glanced over once again at Remus, who had also jumped at the noise. The tousle-haired boy grinned at him for a moment before quickly shifting his gaze back to his parchment. Sirius noticed that he and Remus were the only ones in the common room. It seemed that Lupin Senior had gone off to bed. Jumping at the chance, Sirius made his way across the room to try to talk to him once more. Remus glanced up and, when he realised that Sirius was heading towards him, let out what could only be described as a squeak of terror and positively fled for the dorms. He didn't seem to realise that he'd left his bag behind him on the floor.  
  
Opening the door to Gryffindor tower ten minutes later, Sirius saw that the curtiains of the bed in the corner were, as always, pulled shut. Letting out a sigh, he made his way over to his own bed, which was in between Lupin's and James'. He pulled his pyjamas over his head and settled himself down between the covers. Through a crack in the drapes he could see Remus lying, fully clothed, on his bed. He was shaking like a leaf. Hitched breath could faintly be heard coming from the boy, and it still hadn't stopped when, much later that night, Sirius fell asleep.  
  
T.B.C.  
  
Ahh, angsty!Remus and concerned!Sirius. My favourite ^^ 


	2. Siblings ugh

Remus fled up the stairs to the dorm, arms full of books and parchment. Having reached the top of the first flight he paused for breath, but looking back it seemed that Sirius hadn't tried to follow after all. 

He wanted to go back down, he really did, but it was 'best for everyone' (to quote his parents) if he didn't. Remus knew his parents only wanted what was best for him, but still wished they weren't so extreme about keeping him away from other people. No matter how gentle he tried to be, they still seemed worried that he'd attack someone out of the blue one day. They frowned whenever he got angry, and sent him to his room to 'calm down'. That just made him more furious – Remus wanted to shout at them, to make them understand that he wasn't going to sprout claws and attack them, to make them see that all he wanted was to be – or even pretend to be – just like everyone else. It wouldn't do any good to yell though. He made himself accept their attitude, and consequently spent a lot of time in his room in the basement. It wasn't a bad place. It was larger than any of the other rooms in the house, and filled with bookshelves. The Lupins approved of books; If Remus was reading it meant he was alone. Remus liked to read, so he figured that wasn't too bad. Stories were a bit of an escape; they were windows to worlds full of people who could do everything he couldn't. Instead of resenting the characters in the stories, however, the young werewolf loved them. Experiencing things second-hand was better than not experiencing them at all.

All in all Remus felt that he could have been fairly content… if it hadn't been for his brother, Romulus, who seemed to take Remus' condition as a personal insult. The older boy did everything in his power to annoy his brother and get him into trouble. When they were at home Romulus taunted him mercilessly, attacking with endless insults until Remus snapped and retaliated. Romulus would then go off to inform their parents that Remus was 'acting crazy again'. 

He'd hoped it would be easier once he came to Hogwarts, hoped that having other people around would keep Romulus away, but things just got worse. It seemed his brother had been instructed to keep him away from the other students; He did so without fail, and probably more violently than was intended. Without their parents around there was nobody to keep Romulus from doing more than just taunting Remus. 

Trying to avoid him didn't work. Remus had tried once; and the plan had seemed a success… until he realised that he'd have to return to the common room eventually. His brother had been waiting for him there, asking in a sugar-sweet voice if Remus would mind coming up to the dorms, to help him look for something he'd lost. 

Remus had gotten some funny looks the next day, sporting a large, purple bruise on his temple. 

Not wanting another experience like that, Remus had resigned himself to his brother's constant presence and hadn't spoken to a single person in his year. 

It was lonely. There were times Remus would have killed to join in the conversations in the dorm… but he knew Romulus would find out somehow, and then he'd really be in for it.  

The creaking of the door at the bottom of the stairs jolted Remus back to reality, and he realised that he'd been standing outside the dorm for almost ten minutes, and that that was probably Sirius coming up the stairs. He pulled the door open, rushed over to his bed, jumped in – still fully clothed – and wrenched the drapes shut. 

The door opened slowly a few moments later. Remus heard footsteps cross the room and a mattress creak as someone climbed into bed. He cursed his hitching breath, trying to calm down and not disturb anyone else. Feeling himself shaking, Remus pulled the covers over his head and lay like that until the early hours of the morning, long after everyone else had fallen asleep.

T.B.C

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter! They made my week. Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. 

Now, onto another bit from Sirius' point of view…


	3. Discoveries

Whew, finished this just in time for the weekend – it's longer than the other two chapters, but finishes in a kind of weird place. Oh well, enjoy!

*** 

The next morning Sirius awoke to the sound of a frustrated groan. He opened his eyes a crack and saw an exasperated Remus searching for something under the bed. Wondering vaguely for a moment what the boy was looking for, Sirius then remembered the bag that Lupin had left in the common room the previous night. The bag that was currently residing under Sirius' own bed, because he thought it might make for a good reason to talk to the boy – Now seemed as good a time as any to try.

"Remus."

The smaller boy jumped a mile on hearing his name.

"Your bag…" But by this time Lupin had fled the room. Sirius flopped back down on his bed with a sigh of defeat. This constant running was starting to get annoying. What was the guy doing anyway, looking for a schoolbag so early on a Saturday morning? Schoolwork was something to be left until breakfast on Monday. Saturdays were for getting in some extra hours of sleep.

'Which is what I should be doing now…' 

And with those thoughts, Sirius dozed off again. 

***

"Hey Siriiiii! Wake uuuuup!"

"Mmph," was about the most coherent thing Sirius could think to say. James Potter was not a pleasant prospect in the morning… The boy never seemed to be lacking in energy. He was, most unfairly, both a late-night person _and_ an early-morning person. Sirius was neither. 

"Come on, or we'll miss breakfast."

"I don't want any." Sirius' stomach chose that moment to let out a long, loud rumble. James raised an eyebrow at him. "Fine so. I'm coming."

Sirius sat up, stretched and then, very reluctantly, got out of bed. He quickly pulled on a pair of trousers and a shirt – he preferred to wear muggle clothes on weekends, they made a change from the dull black of his Hogwarts robes – and ran down the stairs after James. When he reached the common room he found his bespectacled friend waiting for him. 

            "Err, James, where's Peter?"

            "Oh crap, I forgot about him. I should probably go wake him, right? Yeah. I'll be back in a few minutes"

James took off up the stairs to the dorms, leaving Sirius alone in the room. Well, not quite alone, as it turned out - Remus and his brother were sitting in the corner. The fifth year was giving out to his brother fairly vehemently about something and didn't seem to have noticed Sirius' arrival. At one point Remus opened his mouth to try and defend himself, but his brother just seemed to get angrier, so he shut it quickly. 

Sirius tried to hear what was being said. Lupin didn't know anyone was in the common room, but he seemed to be making sure that no one who happened to still be in the dorms would be able to hear him. Straining his ears, Sirius was able to get the gist of what was going on.

            "You lost it, you prick! I let you borrow it, and now look what you've gone and done! Why are you so bloody useless?!"

Was he talking about the bag Remus left behind him? It seemed like it, but Remus' brother sounded so angry. Why would anyone get so worked up about a schoolbag? 

            'Shit. Maybe I shouldn't have taken it…'

            "You can come and help me look for it in the dorms. Now."

At these words, Sirius could see Remus' eyes grow wide with fear.

            "I swear. It was here last night. I haven't lost it! I - I'll go check my room again."

            "Yeah, you will; but not before we check mine first."

The fifth year grabbed Remus by the arm and began to pull him towards the stairs. Sirius wondered what was so terrible about looking for something with his brother. Being the terribly nosy person that he was, Sirius decided to follow. At the very least he could get the bag from his dorm and give it back to Remus.

He waited until the echoing footsteps had disappeared and then made his way up the stairs in the direction of the fifth-year dorms. About half way up the first flight James came into view, towing a groggy-looking Peter behind him. Sirius muttered something about not being hungry after all at them and continued upwards. 

When he reached the door to the fifth years' dorms he could hear the same angry voice that had been giving out down in the common room. Sirius opened the heavy, wooden door a crack and peered inside. What he saw was a horribly familiar sight; Remus had shrunk into a corner and his brother was advancing on him, fist raised. The tawny-haired boy's eyes were darting wildly around the room and he was poised as though ready to dart out the door at any minute, but didn't. He tensed up and hunched against the wall instead. Sirius wanted to yell, to tell the boy to get out of there, but had frozen. 

'So much for Gryffindor bravery,' he thought bitterly. 'If I go in there… I'll probably just get a beating too…' 

Maybe there was another way to stop it though… Sirius dashed back to his own dorm and grabbed the leather schoolbag from underneath his bed. He ran back along the corridor, slowing down slightly as he reached the fifth-year dorm, knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Scuffling noises could be heard in the room, and some hurried whispers; then the sound of footsteps, and Remus' brother appeared in the doorframe. 

"What do you want?" He demanded.

"Err, I think Remus left this," he held up the bag, "in the common room last night. I saw him come up here, and I just wanted to give it back."

"Oh. Well, thanks, I guess."

"No problem," Sirius answered airily. He sauntered off down the corridor, but as soon as the door was shut he pressed his ear against the wall. The sound was muffled through the thick walls, but he heard some brief conversation, a resounding thud and then footsteps heading for the door once again. He bent over quickly, under the pretence of tying his shoelace, and waited for Remus' brother to pass him by and start down the stairs. When the older boy was out of sight Sirius stood up and hurried into the dorm room. 

It was bigger than the third years' dorm; with six beds placed around the walls instead of four, and an extra window through which the morning sun was shining weakly. The floor underneath that window was where Sirius found Remus, clutching at his stomach and sporting a bruise and several scratches on his left cheek.  

T.B.C

***

Eep, sorry for cutting it off there! But if I hadn't stopped _somewhere_ it'd have gone on forever, and I wouldn't have had a chapter finished to post this week. Forgive me for the sort-of-cliffhanger!


	4. Some more stuff happens

Sorry for not updating last week - I found a beta for this fic, and I was working on fixing the last few chapters (which I'll re-post in the next few days). Extra long chapter to make up for it! Though this hasn't been beta'd yet, so forgive any errors.

* * *

Remus' head started to spin as his brother punched him repeatedly in the stomach.

'It was only a bag,' his mind cried out, trying to make him retaliate. 'I didn't even lose it! I don't deserve this!'

If their positions had been switched, if Romulus had been the werewolf, Remus felt he could almost have understood his brother's anger; There were times, often if he overheard someone do something as innocent as comment on how 'nice' the moon looked, that Remus wanted to hit other people for being so… well, so _normal_.

But this wasn't the case. Romulus had no such good reason, and Remus had never done anything that deserved so harsh a punishment. He wished he could just run away from Romulus, but there was nowhere to go. Right now he'd be happy if he could get rid of the pain that was overwhelming his senses - if he could get his brother to stop.

Suddenly, like a wish come true, the blows from Romulus' fist stopped. Remus sank down onto the bed next to him, wondering why it was over so quickly. He looked up to see his brother glaring across the room. Someone was knocking rather uncertainly on the door.

"Who the hell is that?" He hissed.

"How should I know?"

"Shut up. I'm going to answer it, and if you say a _single _word you're going to regret it."

Remus nodded, wishing he had the nerve to yell for help from the stranger at the door. He slouched over and put his arms around his stomach – at least the interruption would give him some time to recover.

'I hope it's one of the teachers… Maybe McGonagall wants him for something…'

The boy jumped as he heard his name mentioned, and strained to hear the conversation at the door.

"…In the common room last night. I saw him come up here, and I just wanted to give it back."

That was Sirius Black's voice. Remus groaned inwardly. He hoped the boy wouldn't do anything stupid. He seemed to be taking Remus' silence as a challenge. If this was another attempt to talk to him then Romulus would just get even more annoyed.

"Oh. Well, thanks, I guess."

"No problem."

The door shut with a 'click' and the older Lupin strode back across the room with the leather bag clutched in his fist.

"See," Remus began. "I told you I didn't lose it."

"Yeah, but why did _he_ have it? What were you doing down in the common room with him last night? If you think you've got a new 'friend', you've got another thing coming! If anyone finds out about you we'll _both_ have to leave this school – Mum and Dad'll probably ship us off to Beauxbatons or something!"

"I didn't say anything to him. He tried to talk to me last night, but I ran off. That's why I forgot the bag."

"Well don't let it happen again. I'm dead serious. I'm not going to have to leave another school because of a freak like you."

With those words he shoved Remus off the bed and stormed out of the room. The boy landed on the floor with a loud 'thump'. He pulled himself into a sitting position underneath the window, and clutched his stomach once again. It felt as though it was going to burst with the pain. Romulus was deceptively skinny – his thin arms packed a mean punch.

The door creaked open once again. 'He's back already? Probably decided I didn't get what I deserved after all…'

But instead of his brother's angry footsteps, the ones that came into the room now were tentative, and stopped halfway across the floor. Remus looked up, squinting in the sunlight, to see Sirius Black's face looking anxiously back at him.

"Are you… alright? No, ugh, stupid question to ask. But… yeah…" He trailed off, seemingly unsure of what to say. This struck Remus as strange. Black's was always the loudest voice in the dorm – even with Potter and Pettigrew to compete with – and always had the most to say.

The awkward footsteps continued across the floor, stopping right in front of Lupin's feet.

"Do you want some help?"

Remus was panicking slightly; he kept imagining noises on the stairs, kept seeing Romulus coming through the door.

"Don't worry, your brother's gone. That guy wasyour brother, right?"

Remus nodded.

"He went downstairs. Listen, I'm really sorry if I did this… You know, by taking that bag and all. I was just trying to think of a way to… well, a way to make you talk I guess. I never thought _this_ was the reason you never said anything to us. If I'd known, I wouldn't have done anything. Well, I mean, I'd have done _something_, but…"

The boy rambled on, clearly trying to fill the silence that echoed through the room. Remus just grinned and shook his head, indicating that he could stop apologising. The dark haired figure smiled back, then stuck out his hand.

"I'm Sirius Black."

"Remus Lupin."

The two boys made their way slowly down the stairs to their own dorm. Remus' knees were shaking like mad, and he kept having to lean against the wall for support. Romulus scared him more than he liked to admit – it was more the relief of getting away from his brother that caused Remus to shake than the injuries he'd received.

Sirius was still the one forcing conversation between them, and Remus was still worrying that Romulus would appear any minute. It continued like that until they were safely inside their dorm room. There Remus finally worked up the nerve to say something.

"Thanks."

It wasn't a lot, but it was a start.

"Well, it was kind of my fault your brother got mad at you in the first place. If I were you I wouldn't be thanking me. Listen, I'm really, really sorry again for taking that bag."

"Don't be. Romulus would've found another reason to get angry; the bag was just an excuse."

"Oh, right."

The tawny haired boy frowned a little. Sirius didn't seem very shocked by Romulus. Remus had been expecting a barrage of questions about his brother's behaviour; _why _was he doing it? _Why _did Remus let him? _Why _hadn't he told anyone before?

The silence was a bit weird. Maybe Black was just uncomfortable.

"Really though, thanks."

"Don't mention it."

They lapsed back into silence again, neither sure of what to say. Remus sat down on his bed and started to pick at his fingernails. Sirius hovered in the middle of the room, his manner reminding Remus of a bird in distress. The tension had almost reached a breaking point when the door flew open and James Potter flew through it, closely followed by Peter Pettigrew.

"Sirius, mate! Where've you been? You were supposed to come down for breakfast. We had to eat yours for…"

James trailed off as he caught sight of Remus and cast a curious glance at his friend.

"James, Peter, this is Remus."

"Yeah, I know… well, kind of," James looked a little unsure of what was going on, but nodded at the boy in acknowledgement.

"Hi." Remus felt terribly awkward.

"Not to be rude or anything," Peter piped up. "But how come you've ignored us all this time? I mean, we've lived in the same room for years now, but I don't think I've ever heard you speak."

Shrugging his shoulders, Remus looked to Sirius for help. He really didn't want to explain everything right now. Sirius shot a glance at the other two that clearly said 'Drop it.'

Turning back to Peter with an apologetic look on his face, Remus added,

"I just don't really want to talk about it."

"That's ok, mate," James reassured him. "At least you're talking to us now."

"Hey, you're right. I hadn't really noticed…"

"What do you mean?" Sirius queried.

"I mean, I know _I_ haven't said anything for the last year, but you guys have. It's kind of hard not to listen to you talking at night, so I guess I sometimes forget that I'm not involved in the conversation."

"I get you. And I think it's now your turn to do some of the talking – you've got a few hours to catch up on a year's worth of conversation."

"Umm, what do you want me to talk about?"

"I dunno, anything really. Where do you live? Are you muggle-born? Just keep us entertained for a while," Sirius finished with a wave of his hands.

"Ok… umm, I live in London, I _am_ muggle born – My dad's a wizard, mum's got no magic in her at all. I… have an older brother, though I sort of wish I didn't. And I'm a generally boring person, so do I have to keep doing this? I feel like a right idiot."

"Nah, you can stop if you want," came James' voice. "I think Siri just likes to put people in awkward situations. Like with that Ravenclaw last week," the bespectacled boy cast a vengeful look towards Sirius.

"What was wrong with that?" he answered. "She looked lonely. I thought she might appreciate hearing that the oh-so-wonderful James Potter fancied her."

"Yeah, _she_ did. I, on the other hand…"

Remus grinned to himself and settled down more comfortably on his bed. The four Gryffindors talked for hours, covering a rather broad range of topics.

Suddenly Peter jumped up and announced that it was time for lunch. As the boys filed out the door, Remus grabbed Sirius by the shoulder to remind him of something he'd almost forgotten.

"You've still got to pretend you don't know me at lunch, ok. My brother's going to be there, and he's pissed enough at me already."

"What'll I tell the others?"

"Just… just explain that they can't talk to me. Tell them as little as possible; I don't want anyone making a big deal over my brother. It'll just make things worse."

"Alright so, I won't say a thing. But you won't go back to your usual silent self tonight, will you?"

"I promise. I'll be just as loud as the rest of you, as long as it's not around Romulus."

"It's a deal then. Coming?" Sirius gestured out the door. "I'm famished."

"I'll wait a few minutes. It might look kind of suspicious if we go down as a group. And it'll give you time to explain things to Peter and James."

"See you later, then. Bye."

He slipped out the door and down the hall. Remus sighed contentedly and lay down on his back, a smile playing across his lips. He was happier than he'd been in a long time. Even as he slipped into his seat beside Romulus at the table the feeling stayed. Life was taking a turn for the better.


End file.
